


Naked Pumpkin Run

by PiscesDragon



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Comedy, Explicit Language, Fluff and Humor, Getting Arrested, Getting Together, Idiots, Inappropriate Use of Pumpkins, Keith is a horny drunk, M/M, Pining Idiots, Thirsty Shiro, alcohol use, young people doing dumb things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 20:36:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21259271
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PiscesDragon/pseuds/PiscesDragon
Summary: Shiro can’t remember why running around campus naked with pumpkins on their heads ever seemed like a good idea. But then, Keith’s butt is entirely too distracting and the cops get involved…“You’rewearing shorts!” Lance points out, pink rising into his cheeks.“I’ll take them off before we start,” Keith explains, as if it’s the most natural thing – the grass is green, the sky is blue, and OF COURSE he’s going to strip naked before running across the campus. The fact that anyone would question his ability to follow through is, quite frankly, insulting.





	Naked Pumpkin Run

**Author's Note:**

> I’d like to give a shout-out to America’s Ass for being the inspiration for Keith’s in this fic. Mr. Evans was not harmed in the making of this story (but he may have been ogled a bit.) :D
> 
> Also big thanks to DropsOfAutumn for checking this over for me. I didn't think I would make my deadline of posting this by the end of the month, but I made it!!
> 
> Happy Halloween!!

This is all Matt’s fault.

They’re standing around the center island in Shiro’s tiny apartment kitchen, waiting for said idiot, passing around a bottle of cheap vodka turned liquid courage. Not one of them could remember actually agreeing to Matt’s harebrained idea to kick off the first day of Homecoming Week by doing a Naked Pumpkin Run across campus, yet somehow, they all found themselves preparing for the event.

Lance is wearing a pumpkin on his head, his blue eyes shining out of the cut-out holes, making him look incredibly creepy. He has also somehow managed to attach a smaller pumpkin to a rope which is tied around his waist like a belt.

As it turns out, _ this _ is actually the more disturbing pumpkin on his body.

At least, Keith seems to think so.

“Is that a pumpkin on your junk?!” Keith exclaims loudly as he enters the kitchen with a bottle of what looks to be cheap bourbon.

“Why are you looking at my junk?” Lance retorts, unconsciously bringing both hands to the pumpkin in question.

“He can’t possibly have considered what it looks like he’s doing,” Hunk points out from the sideline.

“Oh my God! Don’t _ touch _ it!” Keith’s voice is a strangled squeaky sound, like a duck being run over by a child’s stroller.

Lance’s smirk nearly has its own zip code. “I knew you wanted me.”

“If you don’t want people to ogle your dick, don’t wear a pumpkin on it, dumbass!”

“But it’s more modest,” Lance argues unsuccessfully.

“Is it?” Hunk asks. “Is it really, though?”

Keith snorts. “That’s a _ really _ little pumpkin.”

_ “You’re _ wearing shorts!” Lance points out, pink rising into his cheeks.

“I’ll take them off before we start,” Keith explains, as if it’s the most natural thing – the grass is green, the sky is blue, and OF COURSE he’s going to strip naked before running across the campus. The fact that anyone would question his ability to follow through is, quite frankly, insulting.

Lance turns and looks at Shiro, glancing down briefly at the Speedo he’s sporting. “You, too?”

“Me, too — what?” Shiro asks nervously.

“Are you losing that scrap before we do this thing?” Lance asks. Keith’s eyes go wide, his gaze may be locked on the wall over Shiro’s shoulder but his attention is keenly awaiting an answer.

“Um… no?”

“Why not?” Matt asks, jumping into their conversation as he approaches the group from behind, landing a smack on Lance’s bare ass with a loud _ THWACK _ as he comes to a stop. The vibrations cause his lower pumpkin to shake a little, making Lance grapple to secure it, and Keith facepalms dramatically.

Shiro only laughs at their antics. “Because I am only months away from graduation, and I’m not going to ruin my record with an arrest for public indecency. Background checks catch _ everything, _ gentlemen.”

“Gentlemen? Where?” Keith asks snidely. “Your friend over here has his dick stuffed in a squash for crying out loud.”

“Dude, you really have an unhealthy obsession with my dick,” Lance says. 

Hunk shakes his head, like the owner of a dog that just won’t listen, and slips around them to leave the kitchen.

“Some might say it’s just a _ healthy _ obsession with ALL dicks,” Keith intones, arms crossed with an air of superiority.

No one could ever doubt Keith’s commitment to being out and proud. It was legendary. 

Matt swore he’d even heard someone sing a song about it at a party once. He may not be big on wearing rainbows, but Keith could give a flying fuck about who saw him with his tongue down a guy’s throat in the middle of the quad.

Shiro’s secretly convinced Keith gets away with being what their group affectionately titles “Aggressively Gay” because he’s so pretty. But he’s never going to admit that out loud.

To anyone. Ever.

“How do you feel about neon dicks?” Matt asks with a feral grin and a significant glance at Shiro’s bright lime green Speedo. It was leaving very little to the imagination.

Keith’s eyes narrow in warning. “I’m not particular about color.”

“And what about the size?” Matt isn’t ready to let it go. “Keith, tell us the truth. Are you a size queen?”

“I do not need an answer to that!” Hunk says loudly, shouldering his way back into the room with a container full of cookies. When he sets it on the counter, Lance and Matt both reach for it at the same time, but Hunk slaps them away like a mother hen. “These are for later.”

“I’m pretty sure you already know the answer to that anyway,” Keith snarks, swiping the bottle from Matt’s hand and downing another mouthful of clear liquid. His face only scrunches up slightly in distaste, which Shiro recognizes as a telltale sign Keith is a few steps down the well-worn path of inebriation.

Shiro makes a mental note to cut off his best friend before he passes out early.

“He likes them big and beefy,” Matt comments snidely to Shiro, who quickly takes back the vodka for another drink.

Something about their current topic of conversation has Shiro feeling like his world is slipping slightly off center. They were friends, and extremely close, but one thing he and Keith always clearly avoid discussing with each other is their sex lives.

Mostly, Shiro is just afraid to allow himself to put “sex” and “Keith” in the same vicinity of each other. Whenever it crosses his mind, Shiro can hear his high school dungeon master intoning in his head: “Ahead lies danger”, and he quickly diverts himself to something else. Like cat videos.

Or porn.

“I’m not gonna lie,” Keith says, his words drawling slightly. He throws his arm around Matt, pulling him in close like he was discussing a conspiracy. “S’fun when it feels like they might break you in half.” 

Matt laughs. Somehow the breath Shiro had been taking gets caught in his throat, causing him to choke and cough. Hunk pats him on the back while he wheezes.

“You know what I’m talking about, right Shiro?” Keith says, his violet eyes glittering with mirth. With a pink flush to his cheeks and drunken smile, he’s so much more _ extra _ than Shiro’s used to. Belatedly, he realizes this is exactly why he’s spent the last two years avoiding Keith when he’s drunk.

Drunk Keith is way too tempting and hazardous to his sanity.

Shiro’s mouth goes dry, and he swallows hard, noticing the way Keith’s eyes lock on the action of his throat and continue to trail downward.

Shiro suddenly remembers what he’s wearing (or not wearing) when he feels his body reacting to having a half naked, incredibly attractive man — even though he’s Shiro’s best friend and totally off limits — looking at him like he may want to devour him.

Then again, that’s probably just wishful thinking.

Shiro pictures wet kittens and his grandmother as he quickly repositions himself in a strategic location behind the counter. “We should change the subject…”

“Yeah,” Lance pipes in. “Suddenly my ass is feeling overexposed and vulnerable.”

“Nobody is touching your flat ass, Lance,” Keith says in exasperation, his arms flailing in the air to make his point.

“_ Why _ do you know so much about my ass?” Lance asks, his voice going a little squeaky at the end.

“Stop flirting with me,” Keith snarls at him. His slurring words make it less effective though, and the rest of the men stuck witnessing their banter all laugh and side-eye each other. The love/hate relationship between Keith and Lance is extensive and well documented. They all knew if Lance didn’t swear he’s as straight as a board, the two of them would have fucked a long time ago.

Inwardly, Shiro is very surprised it hasn’t happened anyway. He’s pretty sure Keith has single-handedly been the catalyst of self-awakening for a significant number of men on campus. At least according to a few stories he’s heard.

It can’t be a coincidence that more than a few guys Keith had left a party with have shown up to the LGBT+ group meetings not long afterwards, with lots of questions and looking for support.

Shiro gets it — resisting Keith’s appeal is damn near impossible. It’s like running a race backwards and uphill.

But Shiro’s been doing it for so long now, he’s become a champion at it. If controlling his hormonal impulses around Keith was an Olympic sport, Shiro would be on the cover of a cereal box wearing a gold medal.

“I wouldn’t touch your mangy ass with somebody else’s dick,” Keith slurs, muscular arms leaning heavily on the counter to glare at Lance. “Find someone else to deal with your bisexual urges.”

“W-what?!” Lance squawks. “I’m not — that’s not even… right?”

He looks around the room at his friends, who all just shrug with passive looks.

“What do you think it says that you’re asking _ us?” _Shiro points out gently.

Hunk gives Lance a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. “College is a good time to figure yourself out, buddy.”

“I don’t need to figure myself out!” Lance argues. “I’m going to marry Allura and live a boring, heteronormative existence, thank you very much.”

“You’ve got to get her to go out with you first,” Matt snarks. “You might want to get on that. Isn’t she graduating this year, too?”

“Oh, shit — does she?” Lance replies. His face falls into a frown at Shiro’s nod of confirmation. “Shit. I’ve got to up my game…”

“You’ve got to _ get _ game, you mean,” Keith says before dissolving into inebriated giggling.

“Is it about time to go?” Shiro asks with a pointed look of concern at Keith, who’s now basically laying across the top of the counter. “If we wait much longer, we’ll have to carry Keith.”

Keith lifts his head to look at Shiro, his eyes half closed as if it took too much energy to open them but still somehow, unintentionally sultry as he purrs, “Mmmm… you’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

_ “Just _ FUCK _ already,” _ Lance mutters darkly.

“Time to go!” Matt shouts, suddenly picking up the large carved pumpkins from the counter and shoving them into his friends’ hands. Before they can get in a word of argument, he’s pushing everyone toward the front porch.

Hunk wearily eyes his large pumpkin accessory. “Do we really have to stick it on our _ heads? _”

Keith, already sporting his own pumpkin-head, takes it from Hunk’s hands and reaches up to drop it onto his head. Giving a firm pat to the top of the orange gourd, he says, “Grow a set, man.”

“It smells in here!” Hunk whines.

_ “It’s a _ _ pumpkin _ _ .” _ Keith’s sarcastic deadpan response comes out of his pumpkin face, and Hunk could _ swear _ that jack-o’lantern is smirking at him.

*****

As the screen door bangs closed behind Matt, they can see the sun has almost set, and the autumn sky is lit up in a gorgeous array of pinks and purples. Matt had been adamant that twilight was the best time of day for their excursion, with the dull light making it more difficult for people to see them. They look ridiculous with the pumpkins on their heads, but hopefully the dimness will make it easier for them to complete their run before someone has a chance to call the cops.

_ For once, _ Shiro thinks, _ my roommate’s scientific brain was used for good and not evil. _

Though still, he can’t say it was really being used for _ good _ in this case. Unless you counted the fact that Keith was just now grabbing the waistband of his shorts, preparing to drop trow.

Which Shiro didn’t.

Not. He did _ not _ think that was a good thing. He didn’t.

Really.

He also wasn’t standing slightly behind Keith, trying to quell his mental excitement at finally (finally!) getting a full, live and in person glimpse of Keith’s bare ass.

Secretly, deep down in a place he refused to discuss with anyone — even Matt, who had lived with him for years — Shiro had very high expectations for Keith’s back side. (He’s an ass man, sue him.)

He’d spent the last hour trying not to ogle the miles of his best friend’s bare skin that he’d so carelessly exposed while they were waiting around and drinking. The slightly tanned expanse of his toned chest, the curves of muscles along his biceps and forearms, slim waist and washboard abs without a hint of extra padding. At the moment, Shiro’s eyes were busy roaming over the light brown wall of muscle that made up Keith’s back — shoulders flexing as he fiddled with his shorts, the freckles here and there creating a path down his spine that Shiro just wants to lean over and lick, tracing it with his tongue before… 

_ NOPE. No-no-no we are NOT doing this today. _Shiro stops himself short, clenching the metal of his prosthetic into a tight fist. He can feel a line of sweat already forming at his hairline, and they haven’t even done any running yet.

A few deep breaths later, he’s finally gotten himself under control. He’s got to prepare himself for the fact that his friend’s ass is probably going to match the rest of him, and he needs to just _ deal with it. _ But the minute he thinks he’s finally ready, Keith takes a quick glance over his shoulder and says, “Let’s do this already, boys!”

Because leave it to Keith to be the one to keep them all from chickening out.

In what certainly appears to be a well practiced move, Keith’s loose athletic shorts come flying off. They get tossed to the side of the porch, fluttering for a moment like a red flag on the breeze, and Shiro can feel his willpower hit the dusty wooden boards right along with them. His eyes return to Keith’s back without his permission, rapidly traveling down to get a peek at the newly unveiled real estate.

It is everything Shiro thought it would be and more.

_ GLORIOUS. _ A sight to behold, truly.

If Helen of Troy had a face that could launch a thousand ships, Shiro can’t even imagine what Keith’s ass would be capable of.

Like a line on a map, a definitive tan line around Keith’s waist marks the areas exposed to the sunshine when he lays shirtless out in the quad, creating a clear starting point for the paler private areas not usually exposed to prying eyes.

And Shiro’s eyes are _ prying _ — glued to the glutes in front of him.

They are flawless: two rounded globes, unblemished, like a couple of apples Shiro just wants to sink his teeth into. The curve of this ass must have been born from a scientific equation for excellence, and in the back of his lust-addled brain Shiro wonders if he should suggest Matt measure the slope of it in an effort to quantify perfection within the known universe.

Shiro has never seen a more awe-inspiring sight. The fact that this pale wonder doesn’t have sonnets written about it is tragic. As it is, he’s barely containing the urge to fall to his knees in worship.

As far as Shiro is concerned, Keith’s ass is the second coming of Jesus.

Better really, because he’s fairly sure that ass would be responsible for more than just a _ second _ coming.

A sigh of appreciation escapes him.

Two hands wrap around his elbows, and Matt’s voice says quietly in his ear, “You can _ not _ grab his ass, Shiro.”

He knows they are wise words, but it doesn’t stop his fingers from twitching with the desire to _ touch _ the tempting fruit right in front of him. He can just imagine how soft it would feel under his fingers, his lips. His mouth waters at the thought of running his mouth along the curve of it, and lower, delving into Keith in ways that could make him moan… 

The landscape before his eyes begins to shift, the curve moving off to the side. Shiro holds his breath as Keith’s hip comes more into view — just a few more inches and an entirely _ different _ wonderland will come into view…

Shiro feels a sharp jabbing pain at the top of his pectoral under his collarbone, and his eyes refocus to see Keith’s finger poking into him.

“My eyes are up here,” Keith says, peering at him from over his shoulder with a jauntier lift of his eyebrows than should be possible with the amount he’s had to drink.

Shiro feels his face immediately flood red with heat.

“If you can catch it, you can have it,” Keith taunts with a loose grin.

Shiro is left sputtering as Keith takes off like a shot, surprisingly steady on his feet for as drunk as he seems. On the other hand, Shiro has had just enough alcohol to consider the offer, and the devil on his shoulder prompts him to follow. A piece of his brain knows pursuing his naked best friend is a horrible, _ horrible _ idea, but the part in charge can’t resist the competition — and even better if the reward is something he really , _ really _ wants.

Before he can think too much (a problem for Less Drunk Shiro to deal with), he’s chasing after Keith, watching his delectable ass bouncing in front of him like a treat just out of reach. A whooping war cry sounds behind him, and Shiro chuckles at his roommate when it’s followed quickly by a yell.

“The first annual Altea U Naked Pumpkin Run has commenced!” shouts Matt, and the other two participants make enough noise it sounds like an entire crowd has joined them.

Shiro doesn’t slow down to see what the others are up to, single-minded in his attempt to catch Keith — and also not to see any more of his friends’ bodies than he ever needed to. He knows Matt would have fully committed to the cause, and he’s not sure about Hunk but there’s no need to risk it.

God knows, Lance’s penis pumpkin was enough all by itself.

Keith is still at least a block ahead of him, and he seems to be following the path Matt had outlined and explained to them a few days before. The house he and Matt are renting is a few blocks off campus, so the first stretch of the run goes through a residential area. 

Luckily, most of the properties are student rentals. He only passes two poor, unsuspecting students, probably walking home after classes, as he makes his way to the edge of campus. Their eyes widen at his lack of attire, and Shiro can only imagine how shell-shocked they will be once his friends cross their path.

Shiro sincerely hopes no one calls the police.

*****

Lance never thought he’d find himself chasing Shiro’s neon green ass across the campus, but such is the situation he finds himself in through the power of friendship and peer pressure. He can’t really argue with the fact that it makes one hell of a beacon to follow — and the muscular frame it’s attached to isn’t too bad, either.

So far their run has been pretty uneventful, save for the surprised squawking of a couple of girls they had passed at some point. He is keeping a comfortable pace with Matt and Hunk, wishing he had prepped for this little party with a few sessions on the treadmill. Come to find out, there’s actually a lot of “running” involved in a fun run.

It’s not until they hit campus that things start to go south.

As they cut around Alfor Hall, they spot Pidge and Allura standing outside their dorm with pom-poms, cheering them on. Lance immediately wants to crawl into a hole and die. The last person he wanted to bear witness to his shame is the woman he’s been chasing after for the last two years.

In his distraction with the “naked” part of this whole plan, he’d forgotten two critical pieces of information: Allura’s roommate was Matt’s sister — and Matt told his sister _ everything. _ The sibling filter is not a thing that exists for them, which Lance unfortunately witnessed one evening as he listened to them discussing their sex lives with each other. (He’d rather grind pieces of glass into his eyes than have a conversation like that with his sister, Veronica!) And he should have known when Matt came up with something this harebrained, the first person he’d brag to was Pidge.

In the midst of his mortification, Allura shouts to Lance that she loves his “little pumpkin”.

Lance can’t lie — that does make the whole experience a tiny bit better.

At least until Matt shouts back, “I’m sure he’d be more than happy to let you play with it, Allura!”

Matt turns his head sideways and grins like a wild thing, his tawny hair sticking up in all directions from the wind making him look like a deranged manga character. He must notice Lance’s expression, because he puts on a burst of speed, trying to put some distance between them.

Lance chases him down with murder in his heart.

He finally catches up to him when he gets to the quad where Shiro, Keith, and Matt are taking what appears to be a leisurely victory lap. By the time he gets to them, he’s out of breath and too tired to kill Matt anymore.

It’s fine — he’ll find a way to get him back later.

“Where’s Hunk?” Keith asks as Lance matches his pace with Matt, who’s running behind Keith and Shiro to avoid taking up the whole sidewalk. Bad enough they’re running around naked — crashing into someone in this state would probably lead to a sexual harassment lawsuit.

“I don’t know, I thought he was behind me,” Lance answers, unable to keep his gaze from dropping down to Keith’s exposed rear. _ It’s _ _ really _ _ not fair that such an asshole has an _ _ ass _ _ fit for a porn video. _

Lance wonders if Keith has ever considered doing cam work.

“What the fuck?!” Keith shouts at the same moment Shiro’s pumpkin head cranes around on his still-jogging body, like something out of a horror film.

“Whoops… Did I say that out loud?” Lance says.

Matt smacks him hard on the back of his shoulder. “No shit!”

As they all finish their jog around the quad, trying to avoid the gaping audience that’s begun to form and dodge their cell phone cameras, Hunk finally makes an appearance. He’s bent over at the knees, huffing and hiding his tender bits as much as he can.

“You ok there, buddy?” Shiro asks, perfectly at ease, as if they’re not all standing around the middle of campus in more or less nothing but their birthday suits.

“M’fine,” Hunk says, his breath only a pattern of loud panting. “Jus’ need a second.”

Matt looks worried. “Can you make it back to the house?”

“Yeah, I’ve got nothing for you to put on, and it’s probably a bad idea to just stay here in one place for too long, you know?” Keith suggests, his eyes darting around like a spy on a mission.

A guy walks by them on the sidewalk and whistles, asking Keith with a smile, “Are you a snacc o’lantern?”

Keith looks over and throws a sharp grin at him, visible even through the pumpkin head.

Shiro just glares daggers at the tall blond until he scurried away. “Let’s go,” he says with a dark expression, as if he’s leading them into battle.

“Yes, sir!” Matt pipes back with a squeaky laugh, and they all begin to head back the way they came. Unfortunately, they’re moving a little slower than before, trying to keep Hunk with the group.

Lance’s bottom pumpkin has shaken free from the rope that’s securing it, so at this point, he’s just holding it in place.

Of course, it’s also at this point the campus police show up and all hell breaks loose.

“Scatter, scatter!” Matt screams. In his panic, he jostles his pumpkin head, which spins just enough to block his vision. He promptly runs straight into Hunk, knocking them both to the ground.

“Evasive maneuvers, boys!” Keith shouts, taking off like a rocket in the opposite direction of the cops. His burst of speed is impressive considering how much he’d drank before they’d started this whole thing.

One of the officers tries to chase him but gives up quickly, well aware he’s got no chance of catching Keith, who’s already disappearing around a dorm down the street.

Shiro could have probably gotten away as well, but he takes too much time making sure Hunk and Matt survived their collision. He gets stopped by the officers, who hold him in place with arms around his biceps. The image reminds Lance of two people trying to contain the Incredible Hulk, and he can’t help but giggle.

Lance is pretty sure Shiro could throw off both of the men and bolt out of there, but of course, that’s not his style. Ever the diplomat, Shiro somehow manages to talk his way out of handcuffs.

That minor in law is already coming in handy.

Hunk, Lance, and Matt don’t get so lucky.

*****

After watching his friends get loaded into the back of the police car, Shiro decides to head back to his house. There are a few things he needs to get before he can help them — starting with some _ clothing _ — and he doesn’t even have his phone with him. He hopes Keith made it back to his dorm without any trouble.

He knows for a fact that if Keith got busted for public indecency, he’d have to make a court appearance at the very least. His record isn’t nearly as spotless as the rest of his friends.

As soon as he reaches the walkway of his house, Shiro pulls off the pumpkin, tossing it into the yard for Matt to deal with later. If nothing else, it’s organic and will decompose eventually. He opens the front door, and Shiro chokes when he sees what’s waiting for him.

Keith is laying across their couch on his stomach with his head propped up on a pillow, his pale butt glowing like a beacon in the dark room, and Shiro can’t help his eyes being drawn to it. He thinks vaguely about the fact that he can never tell his roommate about this, because Matt would have a conniption fit if he knew Keith’s dick had direct contact with their couch.

Shiro is strangely ok with it. Of course, that’s probably because he’d _ also _ like to make direct contact with Keith’s dick.

The Pumpkin Run has only made it more difficult for him to deny these kinds of facts.

“I used your shower,” Keith says in greeting. “Hope that was ok.”

Shiro sputters, not even sure how to respond for a moment. He finally asks, “And you didn’t put on _ clothes _ when you were done?”

“Nah,” Keith answers, his ass wiggling as he fidgets on the couch, “Figured I could air dry. And I didn’t want to borrow clothes without asking you first.”

“Like you needed to ask,” Shiro scoffs, trying to cast his gaze anywhere but the pale swath of skin his eyes are drawn to. “Besides, didn’t you leave clothes here earlier?”

Keith sits up to look at him, and Shiro thanks the gods when he positions a pillow over his lap. His mouth drops into a pout to reply, “But those are dirty now.”

It’s far more adorable than Shiro can deal with right now.

He runs a hand down his face in frustration, coming away with bits of pumpkin guts stuck on his fingers. He’s sure his hair must be half orange with the goo as well. “I need a shower, too.”

Keith stares at him blankly. “Don’t look at me for permission. You live here.”

Shiro shakes his head, trying to focus while looking at Keith — and knowing he’s wearing nothing.

In his home. 

Which is currently empty.

He drags his gaze away from his friend, heading toward the bathroom, and turns back to instruct, “Find something in my closet to wear while I’m in here, will you?”

Shiro gets cleaned up incredibly quick, distracting himself with the things he needs to do. He hasn’t checked his phone yet, but he’s sure someone will need to go to the campus police department to get Matt, Lance, and Hunk released. He doubts Keith will even want to step inside the building, let alone try to talk the cops into letting them go. Given his friends, maybe minoring in law wasn’t such a bad idea. His courses are already coming in useful, as he starts developing arguments in his head for making their case.

After getting out of the shower, he realizes he’s forgotten to get _ himself _ clothes. Assuming Keith has found something and gone back to the living room, Shiro wraps a towel around his waist and moves quickly down the hallway into his room.

He stops abruptly when he enters, gripping his towel like his life depends on it and swallowing the whine in his throat.

Keith is in his room.

Sitting on his bed.

Still wearing nothing, but with Shiro’s dark purple sheets wrapped strategically around his waist. One long tanned leg stretches out in full view along the mattress, a mile of roadway his hand desperately wants to travel along.

He’s literally had dreams that began like this.

“Whaaa…?” Shiro attempts, but language is not really a thing that’s happening right now for his brain. Too much blood is rushing to more practical locations farther south.

“Your clothes are too big,” Keith answers, as if the argument makes perfect sense. His face is a mask of innocence. “Besides… you caught me.”

He’s looking up at Shiro from under his lashes almost shyly — but Shiro has never seen Keith be shy about anything in his entire life.

“Caught you?”

“Shiro,” Keith huffs in the way he does when he thinks someone is being ridiculous, and lays back, stretching himself out across Shiro’s bed. 

He _ has _ to know how tempting he looks, with the light from the lamp throwing his muscular form into sharp relief. The top sheet slips dangerously , and Shiro’s eyes are drawn to the very faint trail of dark hair running down and disappearing beneath the sheet. Shiro forces his gaze to jump up, away from the hidden impressive extremity he’d _ absolutely _ peeked at a few times during their run. He locks onto Keith’s eyes. The color of the fabric only makes them appear more purple as he stares at Shiro, still frozen in place by the door.

Shiro’s brain goes offline, trying to figure out if Keith is doing this on purpose. So he blurts out, “Are you still drunk?”

“Nope,” Keith answers easily. He shifts and folds his arms, cradling the back of his head in his hands. “I think I burned off all the alcohol escaping the cops. Are you?”

Shiro takes a few seconds to assess his own sobriety, wondering for a moment if he’d passed out somewhere in the middle of campus and was just dreaming all of this.

It certainly _seemed_ more like a dream than the reality he was used to. But his vision was clear and his head didn’t feel fuzzy. The possibility of a very slight buzz skirted around the edges of his brain, but he wasn’t drunk.

“No,” Shiro finally answers.

“Ok then,” Keith says matter-of-factly. “Are you going to come over here or do I need to steal that towel?”

He’s joking, easy — like they’ve done this a million times before. Shiro gapes at him. 

Could it really be that easy to just fall into bed with his best friend?

Keith rolls over toward him, the long line of his ribs visible down to his waist, where the sheet has slipped some to expose part of his hip. Shiro’s eyes scrunch closed as he fights to remind himself why this is not a relationship he wants to risk losing, but they fly open at the sound of his name, rasping from Keith’s voice.

“Shiro.” Keith’s voice is whisper-soft, and effects Shiro like a siren song, warmth pooling low in his gut. “I’ve waited for you to make a move. Patiently. But I saw the way you were looking at me earlier. _ Why _ are you fighting this?”

“I don’t…” A long sigh escapes from Shiro’s throat. “I don’t know.”

Keith blinks at him, a slow sexy smile creeping over his face. “Then either get over here or kick me out of bed. Just do _ something.” _

Shiro’s feet move toward the bed of their own accord. He never expected running naked across campus would be the _ second _ biggest risk he’d take today.

*****

“What took you so long, man?” Lance grumbles as he, Matt and Hunk come through the doorway to what Shiro assumes is their holding room. “Matt called you _ hours _ ago!”

Shiro assesses his friends, all of them half-dressed and looking much rougher than normal. Pumpkin heads long gone, the shorts and pants they’d obviously been forced to put on had probably come from a lost and found somewhere. Shiro tried not to think about the types of _ things _ that could be living in those clothes.

His prosthetic reaches up to rub at the back of his head, his mouth twisting with chagrin. “Well, I didn’t exactly have my phone or wallet or anything with me, so I had to go back to the house.”

“Did you get _ lost?” _ Hunk growls, his face a mask of misery. It’s startling for Shiro to see his usually easy-going, cheerful friend so unhappy. He guesses the combination of public exposure, being picked up by the cops, and forced into someone else’s pants has just pushed Hunk too far. There’s only so much “excitement” a man can be expected to handle in one day.

They stop at the front desk where there’s some paperwork to sign — basically admitting to their wrongdoing and agreeing never to expose themselves on campus again. They each take turns stepping up to the desk and passing around a pen.

“Um… sorry. I got a little… distracted?” Shiro’s voice goes much too high at the end, making him sound even more guilty than he feels.

“With _ what?” _Matt asks. “And where the hell is Keith? We called him, too.”

“Well, I had to find the email with the approval form for the run, so I could show it to the police when I got here,” Shiro answers, purposely ignoring the mention of Keith.

“Approval form? What are you talking about?” Matt questions with a confused look.

“I submitted a form with the Student Life office to get the Pumpkin Run designated as an official event,” Shiro explains. “I figured it might help in case something like this happened, and I was right. Technically, your activity was approved… And the requirements for school sanctioned events don’t specify clothing anywhere in the policy.”

“You read the _ campus policy.” _ Matt’s mouth hangs open, completely dumbfounded, as they follow Shiro out the door of the building and into the darkness. It was getting late, and Shiro thinks about the paper he’s still got to finish tonight before getting up for tomorrow’s 8am class.

“You guys all owe me for paying your fines, by the way,” Shiro continues, ignoring his roommate’s scoffing. He’s well aware a little preparation on the front end often saves trouble later — and keeping his friends out of the county jail was well worth the twenty minutes he spent on paperwork a few weeks ago.

Not that any of them are in the mood to thank him now.

They trudge along in silence for a while until they approach the corner where they need to go their separate ways — Shiro and Matt’s house is in one direction and the dorm the opposite way for Hunk and Lance.

“You never said… Did you hear from Keith?” Hunk asks before they part ways. “Did he get home ok?”

Shiro flushes into his hairline, remembering exactly what Keith looked like when he’d last seen him — beautifully laid out across Shiro’s sheets, a pink flush lighting up his skin and his dark hair spilled all over his pillow. He coughs, clearing his throat. “Um, yeah. Keith’s… Keith’s fine.”

He tries not to think about how part of his brain is hoping he’ll still be there waiting in bed when Shiro gets back. He could always turn his paper in a little late… 

“Wait. Why do you look like that?” Lance questions, turning a critical eye on Shiro. He’d forgotten Lance could be perceptive as hell but never when it was convenient. “So… it took you _ hours _ to find an email and some clothes, huh?”

His shrewd look is quickly matched by Matt and Hunk, until the three of them turn to each other and begin communicating solely with their eyes. After a few seconds, they turn back to Shiro with wicked grins in place. 

“Shiro,” Matt starts, looking more evil than his roommate would have believed possible for someone wiggling their eyebrows so suggestively, "Did you _ catch _ him?"

“Um…” There are a few ways to answer that, and all of them expose more than Shiro is really prepared to give away to the rest of their friends at this point. He stalls, trying to pretend he doesn’t understand the question. “What are you talking about?”

Lance comes over to him, patting him on the shoulder. 

“Buddy, I know we were drinking, but we all heard that offer you got,” he says sympathetically, like he’s talking to a child and trying to get them to confess to their actions. “You hit that, didn’t you?”

“What?” Shiro sounds like a strangled cat, and there’s no way he can keep trying to play off his denial successfully.

“C’mon, just fess up,” Matt counters with a shrewd look, crossing his arms into a dominating stance. For some reason, it feels like Shiro is ten years old again and getting scolded by his grandfather for lying. “We’re all going to find out anyway. It’s not like you can keep it a secret.”

He knows Matt’s not wrong. Between having classes together, rooming arrangements and other activities they were all involved in, the five of them had become a close-knit group in the last two years. It really is impossible to keep anything private from the rest of them. Shiro doesn’t mind their friends knowing, but he isn’t sure how Keith would feel about it.

They didn’t have a chance to talk about anything before Shiro went to bail out the others, but he hopes Keith is on the same page with him about what’s happening. Neither of them had been drunk, and Keith certainly hadn’t seemed to be regretting anything when he’d left, but he can’t be sure.

Hopefully, having incredible sex with one of your best friends means they’re together now, but it’s probably still a conversation they should have.

While he had been worrying at the bottom of his t-shirt, trying to come up with an answer to please everyone involved, Lance determines it’s just easier to state the obvious.

“You did,” Lance states the fact with a decisive nod, staring at Shiro and daring him to argue. When he gets no response, Lance lets out an exaggerated sigh of relief. “Thank _ FUCK__. _ Oh my God, if I had to spend one more party listening to Keith’s drunken rambling about you, I was going to _ lose my freaking mind.” _

“Or his flirting?” Matt groans, and Lance puts out a fist for him to bump. “I have no idea how that kid gets so much play, because he is awful at trying to flirt with you.”

“Keith? Flirting with who?” Shiro asks, getting nothing but dead-eyed stares in return. “Me?”

“Oh God, Shiro.” Lance’s voice is charged with ridicule. “You can’t be serious.”

“I present for your viewing pleasure, my live art installment entitled ‘Walking Contradiction’,” Matt says, waving his hands in the air as if he’s the show model on a game show highlighting products. “Graduating next year at the top of his class with a major in Astrophysics and a minor in law, but he can’t figure out when a man is hitting on him.”

Lance shakes his head in shame. “How one man can be so smart, so buff, and so dumb all at the same time is beyond me.”

“Hey!” Shiro shouts, getting offended by their antics.

“Well!” Hunk says, holding up his hand to make peace. “I’m glad you two finally hooked up, but I wish you would have done it quicker.” He pauses before adding, “So the rest of us weren’t left to rot in jail.”

His bitterness is still palpable. Shiro figures it’s going to be a long time before Matt can talk Hunk into joining another one of his ludicrous ideas.

“It’s not _ jail__, _ it’s the campus PD!” Matt argues. “But really , Shiro — _ hours?” _

“Keith has,” Shiro says, his cheeks flushing and ears turning bright red, “a lot of… stamina.”

The bliss he feels at the memory must show on his face, because his friends all visibly cringe.

“I did _ not _ need to know that,” Hunk says flatly.

“On that note,” Lance says, his voice dripping sarcasm, “I’m gonna bounce. Matt, let me know if you need to crash with us. Hunk?”

“Yeah, see you guys,” Hunk says, sounding just as tired as he looks. “It’s been… something. Let’s not do it again, ok?”

Matt nods with a small smile as Shiro waves a hand. “See you later, guys.”

The pairs head off in opposite directions, everyone dragging a little and ready for the day to be over. ** _Definitely_ ** _ turning in that paper late, _ Shiro thinks.

Luckily, he’s got a grade high enough in his Planetary Astrophysics course he can afford to throw away a few points. Today had been worth it. _ Keith _ was worth it.

Shiro can’t help but wonder if Keith will still be waiting at the house when they get back. He really hopes so… 

“Is this how it’s going to be now?” Matt asks, jolting him out of his thoughts. At his roommate’s puzzled look, Matt continues, “You walking around all happy and dopey, like you ate two of Snow White’s dwarves?”

Shiro lets loose a raucous laugh, checking for traffic as they cross the street. 

“I don’t know. I think this could be… good.” Shiro turns to Matt with a slightly worried expression. “It _ is _ good, right? Maybe we shouldn’t have… God, what if I fucked everything up?”

His thoughts start swirling, a thousand possibilities of how things could go wrong spinning through his head. They’ve known each other for years — since even before Keith started college. What if giving in to his feelings was a mistake?

“Stop.” Before he can spiral too far, Matt lays a hand on his arm, stopping his forward momentum. His brown eyes shine up at Shiro, reflecting the street lamp they’re standing under. He’s not sure he’s ever seen Matt’s expression so serious. “I mean it. Stop. That kid’s been crazy about you since I met him. I doubt he’s going to give you the chance to get away now. Besides, he’s damn fast,” Matt points out with a chuckle, “I’m pretty sure if you try to run, he’ll just catch you.”

“Yeah, I can’t argue that,” Shiro snickers as they resume their walk. “He should go out for the track team. They’d probably give him a scholarship.”

They trudge home the rest of the way in silence, both worn from the events of the day. When they get home, there’s a light shining from under Shiro’s bedroom door, and they can hear muffled music playing within the room.

Keith stayed.

Shiro can’t contain the small smile that creeps over his face, but tries to erase it when Matt smirks at him.

“Have fun,” his roommate suggests knowingly as he heads to the end of the hallway and his room. He turns back before he gets there, his voice tired. “But for the love of fuck, be quiet, will you? It’s been a _ long _ day.”

Shiro nods, giving Matt a little salute for good measure, and Matt rolls his eyes as he disappears into his room.

Before Shiro can reach for his bedroom door, it opens in front of him. Keith stands in the doorway, wearing a soft smile and a dark blue t-shirt Shiro knows was hanging in his closet when he left. It’s too large and hanging down one shoulder, baring freckled skin and the tantalizing line of his collarbone. Shiro’s gaze trails down.

Keith doesn’t seem to be wearing anything else. His sinfully long legs visible from the hem of his shirt at his upper thigh all the way to the floor.

Shiro looks up into eyes gone blue-grey in the darkness, with just a hint of violet at the edges where the light from the lamp turned on in his room catches them. He’s wondering where they go from here when Keith reaches out a hand, his gaze telling Shiro he clearly wants him to take it.

But he won’t push — it’s Shiro’s choice.

Shiro barely hesitates a moment before grasping it tightly with his left hand, running his thumb over Keith’s fingers with a smile. As Keith pulls him into the room, there are still questions and concerns and unknowns crashing around in his head.

There is one thing, however, he knows for certain: he doesn’t ever want to let go.

**Author's Note:**

> I really hope you had as much fun reading this as I had writing it. I would LOVE to know if anything made you laugh!
> 
> Comments and kudos are always appreciated :)
> 
> Find me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/geek_life13) if you use it!


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